page_title: DDG Hansa
section_title: Postwar
hierarchical_section_title: DDG Hansa / History / Postwar
caption_attribution_description: English: Model of Bremer DDG Hansa Heavy Lift Sturmfels, port side Deutsch: Modell des Bremer DDG-Hansa Schwergutschiff Sturmfels, Backbordseite
context_page_description: DDG Hansa, short for Deutsche Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft Hansa was a major German shipping company specialising in heavy freight and scheduled traffic between Europe and the Far East. Founded in Bremen in 1881, the company declared bankruptcy in 1980.
context_section_description: After World War II, DDG Hansa had lost all their ships to bombing and seizure by the Allies, and the headquarters building was demolished. From 1943 to 1969, the chairman was Hermann Helms (1898–1983), son of the previous chairman; he was succeeded in turn by his son, also Hermann Helms. In 1948, the company restarted, at first in shipwreck recovery and towing using barges, and then in 1950 resuming freight service to India and Persia with three secondhand ships. In 1956, the company had a fleet of 44 ships, mostly second-hand and new heavy freighters, sailing between Bremen, India, Pakistan, Ceylon, Burma, and the Persian Gulf. The company continued to have a reputation for innovation. The Lichtenfels-series of heavy freighters, beginning in 1954 with MT Lichtenfels, were the first heavy lift ships equipped with the Stülcken derrick. They also had an unusual deck configuration, with the wheelhouse in the bow and the other superstructure aft, leading to the nickname 'Picasso ships'. Beginning in 1965, the company diversified into platform supply vessels, three years later making this a separate division, Offshore Supply Association (OSA), in partnership with VTG AG of Hamburg. The company also diversified into the container field, including experimentation with floating containers, and Roll-on/roll-off cargo haulage; Mariaeck and Brunneck, commissioned in 1968, could handle up to 800 tonnes of RoRo cargo, and in the 1970s DDG Hansa circumvented congestion problems at Persian Gulf and Red Sea ports by using large RoRo ships and its own terminals. Through subsidiaries, the company also owned and operated incinerator ships burning chemical waste, beginning with the MT Vulcanus. MT Stahleck, built in 1977, operated worldwide carrying especially large and heavy loads and was the model for the John Henry and the Paul Bunyan of American Heavy Lift Shipping Company of Pittsburgh, and Hansa employees trained and assisted their crews. It was the world's largest heavy lift shipping company.
caption: Model of the DDG Hansa training and heavy lift ship Sturmfels (1972)[5]
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